BOISE, Idaho — This story has been updated to include a statement made from the two women's attorney on July 11.
The Boise Police Department (BPD), has arrested and charged two women with malicious harassment after an altercation on July 4 around 9 p.m.
“This type of hateful behavior is unacceptable. Freedom of speech does not give anyone the right to break laws or target individuals based on their religion, race, or identity,” said Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar. “We take incidents involving hate bias very seriously and want to ensure everyone continues to feel safe and welcome in our community. We appreciate the actions taken by our officers to address the immediate issue and investigate this incident further.”
Police arrested 28-year-old Hannah Tucker from Boise and 38-year-old Crystal Grosenbach from Boise for allegedly verbally harassing a man sitting on a patio at a restaurant on 8th and Idaho Streets. In a statement, their lawyer Mike French, said they are innocent.
"The community to which Crystal and Hannah belong—local supporters of Palestine—has shown that it staunchly opposes antisemitism and hate-speech toward anyone on the basis of race, color, religion, ancestry, or national origin," read the statement. "Hannah and Crystal unequivocally deny targeting anyone upon these grounds."
Police said the man was wearing traditional Jewish headwear and the two allegedly used anti-Semitic slurs and touched him with a phone.
"A patio diner came out of his seat, got into Crystal Grosenbach’s face, and sent spittle into the activist’s mouth as she and another protestor against genocide chanted from a public sidewalk in downtown Boise this Fourth of July," the statement from the two women's attorney read."The two activists were turned towards someone proclaiming that Palestinian children deserve death when the angry diner left his seat, came out of the patio enclosure and advanced. Spitting as he yelled into Crystal’s face, the diner turned back towards his table, then re-advanced and batted Hannah’s phone while threatening both protestors."
BPD said they yelled anti-Semitic comments directly at the man who was wearing a traditional Jewish headcovering.
"There was a verbal argument between the male victim and suspects before Tucker and Grosenbach walked away. They returned a short time later, again yelling at the victims. This time, the male victim got up from his seat and approached them. Both suspects walked up to the victim and Tucker extended her phone towards the victim, making contact with his nose. At this point others in the area began to intervene and argue with Grosenbach and Tucker and the victim returned to his seat," a news release stated.
BPD said Tucker is also believed to be involved in a graffiti incident on June 8. Police are requesting a warrant for that incident and said charges may be forthcoming.
"It is our position that Hannah and Crystal are innocent of these charges, and we look forward to vigorously defending the case in court," French wrote in an email to KTVB.
The attorney is also asking any witnesses to come forward with information and call a tip line at (208) 629-7538.
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